To attempt to have a weekly shopping budget of £50?

[LittlePickleHead]

In the last few months of saving for a wedding and a lot of expensive things coming up, so for the next few months I'd like to try and stick to a £50 a week budget for me, DP and 2yo DD.

I know this has been done before, but really looking for tips on how to do this, or whether I am being completely unrealistic!

I'm having to give up my beloved Ocado for a while and switch to Tesco (not really a fan TBH), but I've just used mySupermarket and managed to get a shop for just under budget, although haven't had to buy washing powder this week (though this does include nappies).

Anyone else manage on this small amount? I usually spend around £80 at Ocado, not including any alcohol...

If you have a Morrisons, you will do much better for your money than you will at Tescos, as although their cheap stuff is the same price, it's better quality. The meat especially is good. Short dated, but good.

Don't have any Morrisons at all, we don't even have Tesco but I'm doing it online (Morrisons aren't on MySupermarket, not sure if they deliver?)

I didn't select cheap meat BTW one thing I don't like doing, I'd rather eat veggie 80% of the time and have a few high quality meat meals. I did use basic veg so no idea if it's good or not, Ocado basic stuff is great (but still pricey obviously...)

that is my weekly shopping budget for me ,dh, dd(5), ds (2) and our 6 month old dd

so more people so definitley possible this includes pack lunches for dh and dd.

the key is meal planning and doing 1 monthly shop thats say £90 for nappies, washing liquid tins,babywipes etc and then I meal plan for the week take a list and stick to it!

Basic veg is fine, it's somthing nobody can get wrong, or cheapen. It's just the funny shaped ones

Ours is £50 a week for two adults and a 2yo. I'll be honest and say that DH buys his own meat so that's not included, but it does include a bottle of wine and a pack of beers, so you can deduct £8 and spend that on meat if you prefer!

I gave up internet shopping for several reasons - waste of £4, boring (buying same things each week), have a huge tesco on my way back from work and also you get the bargains when you do it in person.

I go to Aldi first and buy all our fruit and veg, bread and eggs, much cheaper than tesco. I spend between £10 and £15 there depending on whether it's a nappy week or not, their big packs of nappies are also cheap (£5) and last us two weeks.

Then i go to tesco and spend the remainder. I don't buy treats but generally bake something every weekend. I buy tins to cook from scratch, multipacks of yoghurt on special offer etc. I only buy organic dairy products such as cheese and milk, though sometimes buy muller fromage frais if it's on offer but we tend to eat pretty well. I batch cook a couple of vegetarian meals per week and we eat things like omelettes, pasta and sauce etc on non cooking days. We take our own lunches to work and microwave them, for me it's usually jacket potatoes or pasta, DH cooks his meat meals for lunches. We manage fine.

Do your own baking.

Make the meat stretch a bit more by adding potatoes to the meal or pulses to a casserole.

Buy a few frozen herbs/spices to give extra flavour to meals.

Make your own pasta as it is soooooooo cheap and you need less cos it is more filling.

hell yes. It can be done.

for about a year, I had £25 a week to feed 2 adults, 2 children and 4 cats AND get all the household etc.

It was doable. Just.

It helped that we lived next to a field and the cats all caught their own food.

It really is fine.

get value range basic stuff. Even beans - if you shove a squirt of tomato puree in there, they are fine.

tinned tomatoes simmered down make a lovely thick pasta sauce.

mix value range stuff with more expensive stuff. eg value cereal mixed with the supermarket's next brand up gives you twice as much for less money and it's not as bad as just having value stuff

loo roll - get the cheap stuff! it's only for wiping your arse and the difference in the amount you use is STILL less than the difference in price- or however that sentence would go to indicate that it's still cheaper

do NOT buy value bread. yuk. But buy the next cheapest and keep it in the freezer and use slice by slice.

washing powder - one box of cheapo stuff and one of slightly less so, mix together and bob's your uncle.

Do you live near farms? you can get a sack of spuds for a fiver. maybe six quid. As long as you store them properly, they'll last for ages.

Buy the big sacks of rice and flour. works out much much cheaper.

You'll be amazed how much you actually do not need.

That's what I'm trying to do with the meal planning - I get paid weekly though and I it will be the big shop that scuppers me (as if you divide your £90 between the weeks you are still spending over £70 a week really)

oops c/p that reply was to susiey

I seriously CBA with shopping with DD as she is a pain (finish work too late to go after) and prefer internet as it's so quick, but you are right it's probably made me lazy as I miss the deals. We have an Aldi and a Lidl close by that I've never ventured to so I should probably start.

All our supermarkets are bloody Sainsburys though, which is even more expensive than Waitrose IME...

Get thee to Aldi.

I can feed a fmaily of two adults and three children very well for £50 a week.

It's do-able - our weekly shop works out at about £60 - £65, but we are not really economising on anything so we could probably get it down further.

We find that the best way of doing it though is to do a big shop at the beginning of the month - stock up on tins, jars, huge bags of pasta, toiletries, washing powder etc and also meat. This normally comes to £150.

We then just buy fresh stuff in the month and top up anything we have run out of - usually around £30.

Don't feel like you need to get everything from the same place. Rather than supermarket meat, see if there is a wholesale butcher near you or if a butcher will give you a discount for buying in bulk - it's normally better quality than the supermarket anyway. We can get about three months worth of meat for around £70.

Get toiletries from the pound shop, Wilkinson's or home bargains or if you do want it from the supermarket make the most of the 3 for 2 offers (Asda is particularly good for toiletries). Even if you end up with 15 bottles of shower gel by taking advantage of the offer for 5 weeks, it will keep you going for ages.

Also look for basics like tinned tomatoes, olive oil and pasta in the ethnic aisle rather than the main shelf - you can usually get much bigger packets and tins for a lot less money - we buy a 5 litre tin of light Olive oil for about £6 from Asda. Also try the ethnic supermarkets.

Finally consider cheaper shops like Aldi and Lidl for your weekly fresh top up or even better consider the market if you have one near you - they are a lot cheaper than the main supermarkets and often better quality.

Great advise with the meals. I do some of this already (i.e. big stews with less meat, so still get the flavour but bulked with lots of veg), leftovers for lunch etc.

We are very short on space which makes bulk buying potatoes etc v hard, and no farms near by as live in london. I am going to attempt growing some things in our garden this year though, even if it's just courgettes and beans that will help

You must go to Aldi and Lidl, then, because this is where you will make your saving. Make a shopping list and stick to it.

Problem with buying bulk is that we only have the top of the fridge as freezer space. It is a big problem as when I used to have a big freezer I'd make loads of meals and freeze them, it was great. I just really have to plan to make sure we eat everything in the fridge each week and throw nothing away, and it means we don't really benefit from bread deals etc. V. annoying.

I will try my own baking though, never done it before so hopefully it will work!

Do I actually need a breadmaker to do bread

OK I'm going to go to Aldi this week - quite excited about it, I'm expecting big things!

our weekly shop is around £50 for 2 adults and a 14 month old who eats tons lol
we do use washable nappies mostly so only buy disposables every 4-6 weeks but aldi are best price and are good ones
one of the biggest expenses is laundry liquid as use tesco equiverlant of eco stuff as cant use much else due to dh's skin and its over £4 a bottle at a time and washing nappies every 2 days adds up so try and get it on offer

I do buy lots from aldi especially the fruit and veg when on offer

For things like dried food and tins, MUST you keep it in the kitchen? how about a box under your bed?

I used to live in a tiny flat with a tiny kitchen, and I kept tins in a cardboard box under my bed.

sainsburys do a meal planner - £20 for 5 meals for 4 a week

Lidl is great and a real money saver.
Salami is 66p, a pack a huge bag of rice about £6, cheapo loo rolls for under £1.50 for 10 rolls. There washing liquid is £2.37 and just as good as bold.
Just remember to take your own bags as they are 3p each for something about the size of a nappy sack.

colditz we have a serious space problem where we are at the moment, my dream is a huge kitchen with a pantry....slightly unrealistic right now! I have pretty much crammed something into every nook and cranny, and despite much ebaying recently I never seem to be able to gain any more space!

I love aldi! super 6 changes every fortnight and it's generally locally sourced (well UK at least) and in season, which is why it's cheaper. kg for kg all their F&V is cheaper than other supermarkets and you can pick up more exotic things when they are in store like bluberries for 99p, etc. Loaf of seeded bread is less than a quid, free range eggs 85p 1/2doz. Filled pasta for 79p a pack, good olive oil, tasty pesto for around £1 a jar, they also have 4pint milk for £1 but no organic. Bargainous.

OK I am starting to feel a little in love with Aldi - it sounds great!

Get thy bumcheeks to aldi. They ave free range chickens for a fiver, and it's worth a trip just for the choccie

Ditto the suggestions about Aldi/Lidl. Brilliant, the nappies in Aldi are as good as branded ones and only £4.99 for a large pack (50 nappies or so)